High hopes for medical tourism

How did you get involved in the ISO technical committee for tourism and related services?

DR Monica Figuerola Martín

As Head of International Business Development in Quirónsalud Hospitals in Spain, and having previously been the Managing Director of Spaincares (the Spanish Health Tourism Cluster) for two years, with a PhD in tourism, I was very interested in the work being done by ISO on medical tourism.

The Spanish national standards body (UNE) suggested that I take part because of my qualifications and expertise and, more generally, my experience and interest in the international tourism industry.

We first needed to define the difference between a “medical tourist”, or “medical traveller”, and a regular “tourist”.

A tourist may need unplanned or emergency medical help while travelling, but a medical tourist has already planned for their treatment in another country and has prepared their travel, accommodation, surgery, treatments and recovery beforehand.

There are a lot of stakeholders in the medical tourism market with more continuing to arrive. Some are small and less well known, but they are taking on patients from all around the world. This raises the issue of whether they have the proper infrastructure, reputation or medical expertise, and how they might not be transparent in sharing the outcomes of the treatments delivered. All providers of medical services must not only adhere to best practice and clinical excellence, they must also continually build trust and offer guarantees of quality assurance by sharing their results. 

We also know that we need to restrict providers who do not meet our guidelines so that patients around the world are less exposed to risk and receive the very best care. This is the only way to deliver a good patient experience and to ensure that the medical tourism sector grows in number of patients, improved outcomes and success, both financially and healthwise.

What are the current trends for people who travel abroad for medical treatment and surgeries?

People are searching for treatment and surgeries that they are unable to find in their home countries due to the rarity of their condition and expertise available to treat it, the expense, lack of health insurance to cover it or long waiting lists. 

The most common procedures performed on medical tourists include cosmetic surgery, dentistry, cardiovascular surgery, orthopaedics (joints and spine), cancer treatments (sometimes experimental or last-resort options), reproductive treatments such as IVF and weight-loss gastric bypass surgery. A lot of people also travel to obtain a range of scans, screens, tests and second opinions.

We are also starting to see interest in spa and wellness treatments, with tourism increasing around these areas as well. These tend to be less medical and more therapeutic as people look for less invasive ways of leading a healthier life.

What future hopes do you have for ISO 22525?

Today, tourism standards have evolved into real tools that help organizations better position themselves on the market, and that goes for medical tourism as well. Firstly, the ambition is that, when it is completed, ISO 22525 will be widely shared and communicated to all relevant government and private health sectors around the world. Personally, I hope this standard will be the ultimate benchmark in the medical tourism industry, being adopted by the most prestigious healthcare institutions and private facilities in the world. We want all our patients to get the best treatment and outcomes possible, no matter where they choose to travel.

Finally, I believe there are many options available for people to improve their health and choose the medical care they receive, and there are a lot of extraordinary doctors and innovative, state-of-the-art treatments in the world. My advice is to always look for the best medical solution for each case, no matter where it is.